COLOR AT THE EDGES

When you come across something for the garden so 'magical' that you know it will give you an instant lift every time you look at it there is nothing to do but find a home for it in the garden where you pass buy it every day. This glass bird bath when lit by the sun is a welcoming beacon from very far away. I see it from the top of my driveway, a distance of 200'. 

It and two beautifully planted pots from Garden Supply Company in Apex, NC were just what a sad entry bed needed to perk up the picture for the rest of the summer.  I will see this every day coming in and out of the house in different light conditions throughout the day. 

The 18" diameter pots were stuffed with Coleus, Variegated Carex, Dusty Miller, Dwarf Elephant Ear, Begona, and Variegated Phlox.  They have made great companions to a large 2' diameter pot with a central conifer growing out in preparation for planting in the garden come fall. 

I have other edges to my largely green populated woodland that I like to add some sort of concentrated color for the summer. I like to start plants small, usually in 4""-6" pots and compose tiny colorful gardens in larger pots. Many of them have woody stems... shrubs and trees.  Because I volunteer on the Master Planning Committee at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC, I am on the list to receive 8 free plants from their excellent propagation efforts each year. They, too, are small and have to be babied for a couple of years in my decorative 'nursery' pots.  The turquoise trio were purchased from The Garden Hut in Fuquay Varina, NC. 

Right now I'm growing out small Hostas, Japanese Maples, Boxwood and a special Ginko. The Hostas are from Green Hill Farm.  The Maples and Ginko come from Mr. Maple and Mr. Ginko. All three are specialty mail order nurseries in NC. 

I inherited this amazing wire chair from a dear friend and have the seat planted in an upended rectangular plastic garbage can lid. The Dwarf Cryptomeria along with Japanese Roof Iris, a tracery of 'Gold  Heart' Ivy and annual Caladium and Euphorbia sit well together in this unique remembrance chair. The Cryptomeria has survived two cold winters in 3" of soil conditioner and will be planted in the garden in autumn. 

My containers are close to the house and a hose.  Easy to water and say hello to each of them. It's also close to my supply of Osmocote, a slow release fertilizer applied twice through the summer. Remember plants in containers need all the help they can get to stay beautiful. Take a tip from commercial establishments that care for containers.  Foliar feed every 2-3 weeks when watering to keep the annual plants blooming and beautiful through the growing season. 

Don't forget that sculptural bits of color can add a lot to your garden edges in the woodland where it might be difficult to grow or water a pot. 

This coiled copper snail floats above a collection of three empty containers shaped like olive jars. 

I enjoy a number of 'stop the eye' pieces as I move along my woodland paths. 

And today when I arrived home my new Elephant Ear was waving HELLO!

So, don't be afraid to use fillers during the summer to spice up the edges. 

AND THEN......THERE'S POISON IVY

QUESTION: What resinous plant derived oil can bond to your skin in one hour!!!!!

ANSWER: Poison Ivy, Poison Oak and Poison Sumac

I never wanted to believe the reports a number of years ago that Poison Ivy (Toxidendron radicans) would be growing larger leaves and getting to be a stronger grower because of rising temperatures. But it makes sense if you consider the continuous robust growth of plants in US ZONES 8-10. I live in ZONE 7B where higher summer temperatures in longer stretches have been recorded for some years now. I  rarely  use  Glyphosate (Round-up) but was applying a treatment around the gardens this spring on tender emerging weed leaves (most effective on leaves 6weeks old or less) and I missed this now fine specimen climbing a Pine tree along a path. (see above... I'm not touching the leaf!)  I, along with much of the population, am extremely allergic to the oil , URUSHIOL, contained in all parts of the Poison Ivy plant....dead or alive.  

Much about this resinous oil and it's insidious effects also present in Poison Oak and Poison Sumac has been reported extensively on the Internet so I will leave you with a few tricks that I use to keep it from bonding to my skin and causing it's typical maddeningly itchy rash of blisters. It can do so in one hour..... after contact through direct touch of any or all of the plant parts; touching the fur or clothes of animals or people who have brushed against the plant or by breathing in smoke from burning the plant. 

Because it is an oil it can be washed off your skin and clothes with any dish detergent. I have always used Ivory Liquid to cut the grease and oil of my dishes. Dawn liquid is another. (I know window washers put a drop of Dawn in a gallon of water to squeegee clean windows) 

I keep hand soap pumps at all my sinks and showers filled with Ivory Liquid so that I can quickly wash off when I come inside from gardening in the rough woods or petting a furry friend that may have been walking in the woods.  My gardening clothes for that day are put through the washer twice with dish detergent. I even shower and wash my hair with dish detergent. Work boots can be wiped off with a paper towel impregnated with dish detergent. I'm careful then to always wash my hands after handling the boots....putting them on and taking them off. 

There are enough things to worry about in the garden without having to put up with a Poison Ivy rash.  By the way, that huge vine I missed will have to be severed near the ground with a clipper. It's too late for Round-up to have any effect on the hardened leaves.  The clipper will also get washed with dish detergent. 

VINE WARS

When you fall in love with the idea of planting a vine to cover that brand spanking new arbor you just built, plan on investing in at least a 7' standing ladder, expandable hand loppers and a 10' pole saw. As you carefully plant your baby vine,  I promise you, these items will be needed down the road after a number of peaceful years of clinging, twining and climbing. 

I didn't think planting smallish trees (Redbud, Japanese Maple, and Styrax) ten feet from my arbors would become attractive supports for my vines. The 20' growth habit of Carolina jessamine began taking over the Japanese Maple and the Styrax during the fourth year requiring an annual pruning and pulling of the twiner out of the trees. 

The Clematis armandii just wasn't satisfied with the 8' tall arbor I built for it and clambered 18' ( exceeding it's suggested 12-15' ht.) into an Oklahoma Redbud. I guess a Vine will be .... a Vine... DUH!

After 10 years the vines had built up to a 6" layer of tangled vines and dead leaves completely covering the arbors. This mat of vegetation supported a thriving wildlife habitat including, last spring,  a nesting pair of Mourning Doves. 

Above is a before (1991 left) and after (2015 right) 

Now, the summer 'jungle' of vegetation is pressing in and I've decided to get ruthless, release the trees and let the sun shine through the rafters once again.  (The fledgling birds have departed.)

On one of  the arbors I had originally planted a Mermaid Rose. Falling in love with the charm if it's name and the lovely pale yellow single form of it's flowers. I was convinced at age 45 I would be able to manage her forever. She proved to be too aggressive an adversary in short order with her ungainly stems and claw-like thorns. I removed Ms. 'Mermaid' in the year 2000.  After enjoying Her last blooming breath of spring bloom, out came the 2" X 2" supporting rafters along with my 10' pole saw and the Mermaid Rose. 

Above, loose rafters dropping to the ground

Rafters looking like a giant pick up sticks game.  

Let me explain:  the (12) 2" X 2" treated lumber rafters rest on the beams of the arbor unattached by hardware. this allows easy access to the plants that overgrow the arbor. 

When the rafters are removed by sliding them out I use a pole saw to cut out the huge square of matted vegetation near the beams. It's like a huge piece of cake.  

A big cart placed underneath the arbor catches it in one piece and it is then easily hauled off into the rough woods. 

I'm using this same technique to cut back the Carolina jessamine. As I cut I hear the voice of Rosanna, a friend of mine who was the Garden Leader in the Lath House at the JCRA in Raleigh, NC. Her reverberating plea was, "No more vines, no more vines". Shall I leave a tiny note near the arbor like the little mice in Beatrix Potter's "The Tailor of Gloucester" .... "No more twist, no more twist."? 

Above are the recent cuts to the Gelsemium sempervirens close to the top of the arbor.  Below, the job is finished letting more light into the garden.  It will be curious to record the recovering growth of the Carolina jessamine. 

Because, I have to admit, the effect was magical with it's  heady spring scent in the entrance courtyard.  I will be looking forward to the beautiful vision of the arbor with "the fringe on top."

OAKLEAF, HYDRANGEAS OF COURSE

Draw an outline from North Carolina to the tip of Tennessee then down the western border of Mississippi around Louisiana and the shore lines of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and back to North Carolina and you will be tracing the native range of Hydrangea quercifolia, Oakleaf Hydrangea. 

It grows as well in a mountain zone 5 as a tropical zone 9. Apex, NC is right in the middle at Zone 7 and two of the many cultivars available are thriving in the dappled shade of Stewartia monadelpha along a path in my garden. They have adapted well to Triasic Basin soil pH 4.9. 

H. q. 'Snowflake' ( in the background) and H.q. 'Snow Queen' (up front) make a splendid show right about now. 

I love the fact that the Stewartia blooms at the same time dropping it's 50 cent sized white flowers echoing the the sterile florets of the Hydrangeas hovering above. 

Huge 10-12" panicles of 'Snowflake' blossoms (above) have double florets that drip from the tips of the branches  while the equally long panicles of regal 'Snow Queen' stand up tall at a 45' angle.  (below)

From a landscape point of view (below) in the woodland garden, this plant is a delightful curiosity in all seasons. In winter a tracery of peeling stems allows the sunshine,  low in the sky, to penetrate to the ground. By the end of spring huge Oakleaf shaped leaves fill in completely masking the stems. At summer solstice the flower panicles are at their glory and the in autumn a fireworks of color washes over each exquisite leaf. 

I suspect the reason that we don't see many Oakleaf Hydrangeas in our woodlands today is because they are a tasty favorite of deer.  But that shouldn't stop you from having this big bold joyous shrub in your garden in the woodland.  Fences and sprays are available as deterrents. 

I planted these about 15' out from the house and now the garden room it created is an extension of my bedroom. It's almost indescribable the feeling I get each summer morning waking up to see this dancing party of Oakleaf Hydrangeas. And yet, deep greens and pure whites settled  against the backdrop of the deep woodland comprise a calm vision that I can carry with me through a busy day. 

IT'S JUNE!!!!! GET OUT THERE AND PRUNE

FELCO folding saw and by-pass pruners, Fiskars scissors, Wonder Grip gloves, ACE Hardware tool belt, Cutters bug repellant are the tools I take with me out into my gardens in the woodland to 'reduce prune' by hand in June. The mini loper is something I picked up years ago but have no idea where and who manufactures them. 

I  have a few shrubs that require pruning in June. The lush spring growth is looking like the garden is having a bad hair day.  I keep a couple of large shrubs on my driveway shaped to give entry-gate structure to the wildness of the woodland edge.

Because we had a cold winter and slow melting icy snow pack combined with a super rainy spring is seems like some plant growth exploded.  Lonicera fragrantissima stems grew almost three feet this year.

Abelia Chinensis and Jasminum nudifolium's 'hair' are standing on end!!!

I like a loose and natural look to the shrubs I shape at this time of year but not this loose. I use hand clippers not pruning sheers. This cuts the size of the plant by 1/4 to 1/3 (which is all that should be taken at any time.) Literally, by the time I'm finished,  it is difficult to tell that the plant has been touched.  To 'reduce prune' one starts by reaching past the offending wild whip into the shrub, finding a growth node or place where it has grown from old wood snipping it in that location. As you go in and out of the surface the trimming takes on a natural softness.  Remember that where ever you cut two new branches will grow from that cut. That is why sheering (while appropriate in some garden schemes) shrubs will eventually result in tight outside growth and will have skimpy or no growth near the oldest trunks. Rejuvenating shrubs that have been sheered can take three or more years to return the shrub back to a natural look. 

I filled 4 wheel barrows in 2 hours with hand trimmings from Callicarpa, Kerria, Spirea, Jasminum nudiflorum ( it actually was climbing 5' up into my Magnolia 'Susan'),  Abelia chinensis, a couple of Viburnums: V. propinqum. V.  dilitatum, V. awabuki 'Chindo' and  Carolina Cherry Laurel, Acer palmatum, and Ternstroemia gymnanthera.  

 I began shaping a pair of  Abelia chinensis fifteen years ago into large comfortable mounds. It only takes 15-20 minutes to snap the straight-up whips of these two shrubs to get them ready for their summer show of tip-end flower balls that with this type of pruning treatment cascade over the whole shrub. Flanking the gravel driveway the  pair welcomes and says goodbye to visitors. 

Above is Abelia chinensis in it's July finery of bloom.  This is one of my 'go-to' plants when I am designing. www.customlandscapesnc.com. It takes full sun to part shade ( morning or afternoon.) I use it as a substitute for Buddlea. Butterflies love it and it's sweet fragrance fills the air for a month. 

 Lonicera nitida deserves a snip or two to to create a splash at the bottom of a waterfall effect of Hosta. 

The Viburnum burkwoodii is beginning to close it's doors into the hidden moss garden room. Time to trim this back as well. 

A garden path with Spirea thunbergii, Callicarpa issai, and Kerria japonica alba, growing over the walkway and obstructing the view into the woods. That's a living 'Bottle Tree' on the right. 

BEFORE ABOVE

AFTER BELOW

The 'Bottle Tree' is 'Black Dragon' Cryptomeria that was hard pruned years ago after attaining a less than satysfing growth habit in shade (it is really best in full sun.) I kept the branches long enough to stick bottles on and because it is alive the branches stay supple enough to support the weight of the bottles. 

As you hand prune the shrubby tendrils don't forget to put some of the stems aside for propagation as now is the time to stick hardened off cuttings. 

BEFORE ABOVE

AFTER BELOW

With the constant threat of summer Ticks it is wise to keep a lot of elbow room for those jumping menaces. I found a big healthy one the other day waiting on the tip of a Kerria leaf waiting to transfer to me as I passed .  OFF WITH IT'S HEAD!!!!!

Other path edges require a bit of digging out to widen. I like to share the bounty this woodland garden gives me year after year and 'pass along' to friends and clients. I love slowly strolling by plants in my gardens remembering who and where they came from. 

HAPPY PRUNING TOO YOU, TILL WE MEET AGAIN.